Mystery delves into Gulf lifestyle

The best stories are ones you do not want to stop reading. When the time comes to go to sleep or meet a friend, the reader counters with, “Just one more chapter.”

“Thin Slice of Life,” a novel by Miles Arceneaux, is that sort of story, a salt water- flavored mystery set on the Texas coast of the Gulf of Mexico, where an evil has become visible to those barely carving out an existence on the shrimp boats that leave the harbor each morning.

The book opens with the introduction of a likeable seaman named Johnny Sweetwater, who thinks nothing of helping when he comes upon a craft whose diesel engine is giving the crew fits.

But within the book’s first dozen pages, the gulf becomes a crime scene, and, with no body and only a suspected death, the mystery introduces an array of memorable characters and a villain intent on mixing intimidation with murder while building his own empire on the south coast.

The book’s title is taken from singer-songwriter Guy Clark’s song called “The South Coast of Texas:”

“The south coast of Texas

is a thin slice of life;

It’s salty and hard,

It is stern as a knife.”

Arceneaux, by the way, is a fascinating creation. The author’s name is simply the nom de plume of three Texas-based writers and friends, John T. Davis, James R. Dennis and Brent Douglass, all of who began writing this book for grins rather than publication. (Douglass will sign copies of the book at 1 p.m. Saturday at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, 2415 Soncy Road.)

Shoot, I can recall playing a similar game as far back as high school. One of my friends would write a chapter for a short story, followed by a second friend who tried to maintain a similar tone, and a third and fourth. But we had no discipline and really were joking around.

The end result was goofy as all get out.

The authors of “Thin Slice of Life” admit up front that they took turns writing chapters.

Yet what makes “Thin Slice of Life” so involving is that it reads with the consistency of a single author.

There is no notable change in quality or tone from one chapter to the next, and each character — whether it be a Texas Ranger missing the wide open spaces of West Texas, a crooked Texas politician, an Asian crime lord intimidating the Vietnamese who arrived in Texas to fish, or a brother who must ‘man up’ for family — is a necessity.

That Texas Ranger may wind up the favorite character of some, especially when he protects a woman’s dignity or tries to walk away “like John Wayne at the end of ‘The Searchers.’ ”

For a project like this to work, Davis, Dennis and Douglass had to meet in advance and at least discuss overall story, making sure they were on the same page.

Each may have invented characters and subtle shifts in tone, but the book also paints a seemingly accurate portrait of shrimping, right down to the occasionally romantic descriptions of the boats, nets and harbor.

Readers have the impression that Arceneaux is following the timeless advice of: “Write what you know.”

What he seems to know is fishing vessels on the Texas coast, inventing likeable characters along the way whose thin slice of life finds friends facing odds even tougher than the hurricane they had hoped to avoid.

The hurricane also provides tension.

One person even nails his own hand to a door to avoid drowning in flood waters.

Arceneaux is adept at making readers hear accents while they read, and the dialogue is believable and colorful throughout. One example arrives when our favorite Texas Ranger checks in with his boss, only to be reminded of just how “country” he really is. (The description is a hoot, but cannot be reprinted here.)

Humor is a welcome injection, beginning with a loyal dog named Ringworm.

Romance arrives when some characters least expect it, but thoughts of happiness are set aside while a smuggler, Col. Nguyen Ngoc Bao, intends to kill Johnny Sweetwater’s too curious brother and anyone who comes between him and a potentially deadly deal with a Mexican cartel.

The story is involving, exciting and, yes, probably would make a good film.

Characters are memorable, a few with such wonderful nicknames as Neon Leon and Shoeshine.

But the truly special parts of “Thin Slice of Life” arrive during the author’s descriptions of land and sea, the boats and the people depending upon them. Suspense builds and the book becomes difficult to set aside, in part because one wants to know what happens to favorite characters.

Overall, “Thin Slice of Life” is a story carefully researched, seamlessly plotted and beautifully told. You’ll finish it quickly, and want to read more by this Archeneaux.